General Questions – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:00 pm on 3 February 2005.
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the availability of affordable housing. (S2O-5175)
Over the next three years, we will
Is the minister aware that average house prices in Scotland have increased by 80 per cent over the past five years and that that brings the average cost of a house to more than £121,000? Given that many people cannot afford to buy a house, will the Executive ensure that there is an adequate supply of rented housing through reviewing the implications of its policy on the sale of houses by councils and housing associations and through ensuring that, if such houses continue to be sold off, sufficient resources will be made available to councils and housing associations to replace them where there is still demand for rented housing?
We are determined to increase both the number of social rented houses that are being built and, crucially, the number of low-cost houses for home ownership. We have an exciting and innovative shared equity scheme to give people opportunities to get on to the housing ladder. I accept that there are severe difficulties, especially in some parts of Scotland, for first-time buyers.
On social rented accommodation, I have announced the investment figures and the targets for new build, which show a 46 per cent increase by 2008 on what we have currently. We are expanding the programme considerably. As Dennis Canavan knows, the Parliament passed an amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to ensure that we give a statement on the right to buy by September 2006. We have made arrangements for that to happen and there will be a thorough look at the issue. We will consider the case for any further adjustments to the right to buy in the light of that report.
How will the minister ensure that an adequate water and sewerage capacity is built into Scottish Water's quality and standards III programme forward from 2006 to cater for affordable housing developments? In particular, how will he ensure adequate capacity in local authority areas in which the structure and local plans do not provide a full—or, in many cases, any—allocation of sites for affordable housing, but rely instead on a supply of windfall sites?
Those are issues of development planning and it is key that enough land should be designated for that. Murray Tosh's first point relates to infrastructure. Lewis Macdonald will make a statement soon about the water industry investment programme. I have been in discussions with Ross Finnie and Lewis Macdonald about that, as it is a matter that has